Chapter 107: Intimate Behavior Between Besties?

“Jiangjiang, what’s up with Wenwen?”

“Why’s her face been so red all day?”

Before school ended, Luo Shanshan pointed at Qi Wen, who was slowly packing her bag in the distance, and asked curiously.

“Maybe she’s just not used to all the enthusiasm from classmates.”

This answer didn’t come from Jiang Ning—it was something the dean had said.

Right now, whenever Jiang Ning thought about what happened in the emergency stairwell, she couldn’t help but want to laugh. The dean’s shocked and flustered attempt to explain away her actions had been too funny.

Please.

I’m the one who kissed her.

What are you trying to explain?

But still…

Thinking back to her impulsive move, Jiang Ning’s cheeks turned a little red.

She didn’t really know why she did it.

Maybe it was the moment—the lighting tinged with dusk, the atmosphere just right—and she had just… impulsively leaned in and kissed her.

She’d kind of regretted it the second it happened.

But when she saw that Qi Wen only blushed and didn’t look angry or anything, she’d felt relieved and pulled her back to class.

Now it was after school.

Qi Wen’s face was still a healthy shade of red.

Jiang Ning thought for a second, then quietly scooted over.

“Wenwen.”

“Mhm?”

“Are you mad?”

“No.”

“Then…”

“It’s just… an intimate thing between besties, right?”

Ah. Got it.

This girl was overthinking it.

Old Jiang chuckled and immediately put on a disgusted face:

“Ew~ Qi Wen, what are you even thinking?”

“So gross.”

“You—!” Qi Wen hadn’t expected Jiang Ning to turn it around and act like she was the weird one.

Her brows scrunched together as she raised her hand to smack Jiang Ning, but Jiang had already seen it coming and blocked it.

“Alright, alright. Just an innocent bestie thing.”

“So don’t overthink it, okay?”

“If it really bothers you, you can kiss me back.”

Looking at Jiang Ning acting like such a slippery rascal, Qi Wen was both annoyed and amused.

She gave her a couple light smacks, then let out a little “hmph” and went back to packing up her stuff.

Seeing that Qi Wen didn’t seem in a hurry to leave, Jiang Ning waved, grinning, and slung her backpack on.

She walked off cheerfully.

Watching Jiang Ning’s retreating back, for some reason Qi Wen’s mind kept circling back to what she’d said.

Intimate behavior between besties, huh?

And just like that—

Her face turned red again.

Just like the sunset.

——————

Back home.

Mom still wasn’t around.

Word was the factory had landed a big order and needed people to work overtime.

They were even paying way better than usual.

Honestly, Jiang Ning really wanted to whip out her bank card, slap it down, and tell her mom to quit working already.

Your daughter will take care of you.

…Except if she actually did that, she’d probably get smacked upside the head, have the money confiscated, and be told to get back to school or work as usual.

Her mom might even take the money and go support some gigolo.

Tch!

Jiang Ning kinda wanted to raise a few sugar babies herself.

Preferably the sweet, ripe kind!

But after showering, she looked at her flat, empty chest in the mirror—

She felt a whole new level of disappointment.

She went back to her room, crawled into bed, pulled out her phone, and turned it on.

A flurry of new message alerts buzzed.

Jiang Ning scrolled through them like she was used to it.

First one: Li Mingwei’s daily check-in.

Sent five minutes ago.

She hesitated, then replied with something short:

“Okay, I’m home. Just took a shower. Thanks.”

Second one: Liao Liao’s daily “concern.”

Saying it was concern was a stretch—Jiang Ning saw right through her.

She just wanted a new song.

Trying to be subtle about it.

Jiang Ning grumbled to herself, then typed a reply saying she had an idea for a new song and would send it to Sister Mingyu after finishing the Olympiad competition next week.

But as soon as she sent it—Before she could even open the third message—Liao Liao’s reply came flying back:

“Okay, darling. Love you.”

Reading that, especially those last two words, Jiang Ning immediately thought of Liao Liao’s bright red lips.

She instinctively touched her own cheek.

Dammit. Next time I’m totally kissing her back.

Third message: from Xia Zhi.

Inviting her to sing karaoke this weekend.

Honestly, ever since Tao Tao transferred schools, Xia Zhi had been messaging her way more often.

Every two or three days without fail.

Asking what she was doing.

Or trying to meet up on weekends.

But Jiang Ning had never agreed.

She had her own schedule.

Still, even though she always turned her down, she never seemed to get discouraged.

That kind of persistence—Jiang Ning had to give her credit.

Last message: from her older cousin Tian Wenhao.

Unlike everyone else’s texts, Jiang Ning couldn’t just ignore his.

Because whenever he messaged her, it was always something serious.

This time?

It was about selecting candidates for managerial training.

“Managerial trainee” was really just a fancy way of saying potential store manager for the new branch.

That’s right.

Jiang Ning was out of people to assign.

A very real problem.

She was already scouting locations for a new store, but hadn’t even picked a manager yet.

No store manager? No opening.

Still…

She wasn’t ready to hire an outside professional.

Not that they were bad—They were trained, efficient, and if paid well, could run a store like a machine.

But hiring was a two-way street.

She was sizing them up.

They were sizing up her company too.

Right now, although Shi Ning Ji is profitable, in the eyes of most professional managers, it’s still just a small operation.

There wouldn’t be many qualified professional managers willing to come work here.

So rather than recruiting externally, it would be better to select someone directly from within the store.

At the very least, they’d already be familiar with how things work.

This was the result of multiple discussions between Jiang Ning and Tian Wenhao.

As for how to select someone—Jiang Ning had thought of a few methods on her way home today.

The first was an exam.

Let the scores speak.

Whoever’s more capable gets the position.

But this method isn’t very friendly to those with lower educational backgrounds or weaker written communication skills.

So Jiang Ning also considered another approach.

She’d have a few candidates each manage a different store for a day as acting store managers.

Then let the employees of that store rate them.

Whoever gets the higher score, combined with their written exam score, would be selected as the reserve store manager for the new branch.

The next day at noon.

Jiang Ning took the day off and headed straight to the Jiangzhou University branch.

That morning,

Tian Wenhao had already given the written test to the candidates from two stores.

Now Jiang Ning was coming by to see how they had done on the exam.

When she arrived at the store—She happened to see Wang Chan from the Station Branch, wearing the store manager’s uniform and busily handling things all around the university store.

Seeing how serious she looked, Jiang Ning quietly nodded in approval.

Wang Chan was the candidate recommended by the Station Branch.

Although she had accidentally burned herself when she first started,

Her attitude toward learning was far more diligent than most people.

In just two or three days, her proficiency with the machines already rivaled that of veteran staff like Li Yan.

Later on, she even managed to do basic troubleshooting on some machines, which made the equipment suppliers wonder if she had a background in mechanical work—Leaving the poor girl flustered and laughing awkwardly.

The candidate selected from the University Branch was even more interesting.

They picked Xia Ling from the delivery team as their recommendation for the reserve store manager.

Jiang Ning had just found out about this before arriving.

To be honest—The news of Xia Ling running for reserve manager surprised her even more than Wang Chan did.

But to be fair,

The selection process never excluded the delivery team.

It was clearly stated: any company employee was eligible.

As for how Xia Ling managed to beat cashier Wang Ting and become the store’s nominee,

Based on Tian Wenhao’s texts, it seemed her popularity played a major role.

Looks like Senior Xia has some serious social skills.

At that moment—Wang Chan saw Jiang Ning walk into the store and immediately came up to greet her:

“Ning Ning, you’re here! Manager Tian is waiting for you in the changing room.”

“Mm, I’ll go now. You keep busy.”

With that, Jiang Ning waved her hand and headed toward the changing room.

She knocked, opened the door, and entered.

Right as she stepped in—She saw Tian Wenhao sitting in a chair with a conflicted expression on his face, holding two test papers.

No need to ask—those had to be Wang Chan and Xia Ling’s tests.

“What’s wrong? Why do you look so conflicted?”

“Who scored higher?”

“They got the same score.”

“Huh??”

“I said—they scored the same.”

As he spoke, Tian Wenhao laid the two tests flat on the table.

Sure enough—Both papers had the same score: 74 points.

Out of 100, 74 doesn’t even count as a “Good.”

But only Jiang Ning, who wrote the test herself, knew—To even pass the test, a candidate had to be careful and diligent in their usual work.

Scoring 70 basically meant they were excellent employees.

Scoring above 80? That would require a year or two of store experience—practically impossible otherwise.

So the fact that both of them scored 74 surprised Jiang Ning.

However—Surprising or not, the tie led to only one outcome:

Now, the impression scores from their manager-for-a-day stints became especially important.

And that—Gave someone like Xia Ling, with her strong interpersonal skills, a clear advantage.

Whereas someone like Wang Chan, who was more technical and focused on learning, was more likely to be eliminated.

So… should they really give up on Wang Chan just because of Xia Ling?

Jiang Ning, like Tian Wenhao, found herself stuck in indecision.

In the end—The two cousins decided to wait until the feedback from the store manager experience came in before making a decision.

After that—Their focus shifted to the next problem: whether to open the new branch at Times Square or in a residential district in the southern area.

Jiang Ning leaned toward Times Square.

Regardless of anything else, the boost to brand image alone made it her favorite.

But Tian Wenhao was more pragmatic.

He believed Shi Ning Ji wasn’t at the stage where brand mattered yet.

Right now, they should prioritize making more money.

The two of them debated this for quite a while.

From expenses to budget, from branding to the future—even the supply capacity of Jiang Ning’s cousin’s farm got dragged into the debate.

But after arguing for so long, neither could convince the other.

Just as it seemed this debate was heading toward yet another stalemate—

Their cousin-in-law, Xiao Mingxiu, who had come in at some point, unexpectedly chimed in:

“If there’s no pressure on funds…”

“Why not open both?”
—
(End of Chapter)